An endoscope is a flexible instrument introduced into the body for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Typically, these devices are inserted into the body through an opening (a natural opening or an incision), and are delivered to a work site inside the body through a body channel, such as, for example, the esophagus. Imaging devices incorporated in the endoscope allows a surgeon to see the work site from outside the body and remotely operate the endoscope to perform a desired diagnostic/therapeutic procedure at the work site. There are many different types of endoscopes in use today and embodiments of the current disclosure may be applied with any of these different types of endoscopes. In general, embodiments of the current disclosure may be applicable with any type of medical device that can be inserted into a body, and that allows a surgeon outside the body to visualize a region inside the body. For the sake of brevity, however, the novel aspects of the current disclosure will be described with reference to an endoscope.
In a typical application, a distal end of an endoscope may be inserted into the body through an opening in the body. This opening may be a natural anatomic opening, such as, for example, the mouth, rectum, vagina, etc., or an incision made on the body. The endoscope may be pushed into the body such that the distal end of the endoscope proceeds from the point of insertion to a region of interest (work site) within the body by traversing a body channel. The endoscope may include one or more lumens extending longitudinally from the proximal end to the distal end of the endoscope. These lumens may deliver various diagnostic/treatment devices to the work site to assist in the performance of the intended procedure at the work site.
Among others, these lumens may include an illumination lumen that includes an illumination source to illuminate a field of view at the work site, and an imaging lumen that includes an imaging device to capture an image of the work site and deliver the image outside the body. A diffusing lens may be used to attempt to project light evenly over the entire visualization field through the illumination lumen. Due to the differences in proximities, and other light reflecting characteristics of different locations within the field of view of the work site (such as, for example, differences in reflectivity of muscle and tissue), these different locations may appear to be illuminated differently. For instance, some of these locations may appear to be oversaturated with light while other locations may appear to be insufficiently illuminated. This variation in illumination may make visualization of the work site difficult, and may therefore be undesirable. An endoscope with a diffusing lens may, however, be limited to providing uniform light across the entire field of view. Additionally, with small bore endoscopes, the cost of implementing a diffusing lens for even distribution of light may be high. While this cost may be less of an issue with reusable endoscopes where the cost can be amortized due to repeated usage, this cost may be prohibitively high in the case of disposable endoscopes. The current disclosure is directed to systems and methods configured to enable clear visualization of a field of view within the body from outside the body.